Harris Georgiades

Cyprus plans two international debt issues this year, its finance minister said on Monday, seeking a firmer footing in markets after a near meltdown in 2013.

The island nation is preparing for two issues under its European Medium Term Note (EMTN) program, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said.

Details have not yet been decided.

Bailed-out Cyprus will be putting out market feelers next week about a possible new bond issue, choosing Barclays, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and SG CIB to organize meetings with European investors.

A Cypriot official says other nations using the euro currency have approved his country’s next installment of rescue money amounting to 350 million euros.

That happened during a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

Cyprus said on Tuesday it hopes to re-establish a flow of aid from international lenders after some issues were resolved in a disputed foreclosures bill that lenders demanded for funds to be released.

Cyprus's finance minister said on Tuesday the downturn on the island appeared to have bottomed out, after the economy showed an improvement over the past four quarters.

"The long recession seems to have run its course," Harris Georgiades told a conference in Nicosia.

Eleni Chrepa & Georgios Georgiou

Cyprus could benefit from strong bank stress test results and positive economic signs to pull off an Irish-style bailout exit and make a full return to the bond market, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said.

...

Results of stress tests on Cyprus’s banking sector have shown a re-establishment of stability in the banking sector, and could expedite the complete lifting of capital controls, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades (photo) said.

“It won’t be tomorrow but we shall commence the process of lifting the very last restrictions soon, in a gradual and staged manner,” Georgiades told Reuters.

Cyprus’s creditors have not approved the foreclosures bill tabled in Parliament by the government in Nicosia, and as a result have decided to postpone the disbursement of the next bailout tranche to the island nation, as the issue will not form part of this Friday’s Eurogroup meeting, Cypriot Finance Minister Harris Georgiades (photo) told CyBC state radio on Tuesday.

Cyprus is considering tapping the bond market by September, according to two government officials directly involved in the process.

One of the officials, who asked not to be identified as no final decision has been made, said the initial offering will be for about 500 million euros and will probably be held after a share sale by the Bank of Cyprus, the country’s biggest bank.

The streamlining program of the Cypriot economy remains on course and recession projections for 2014 have been revised from 4.8 percent to 4.2 percent, according to a statement by the island’s international creditors which opens the way for the disbursement of the fourth bailout installment worth 686 million euros.